Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1887-11-27

I
furnished with lavatories, water-cooiers'
linen presses, and other convenience,
and are finished throughout with ma
hogany. The other rolling stock COM
prises four double-decked open cars,
twenty platform cars, twenty gondola
/ cars, six refrigerator cars, four poultry
cars furnished with coops. eight cattle
cars, two derrick cars for lifting heaVy
material, and two hundred box ears.
Anovel industry has been started by
boys in the Santa Monica mountains IN
California. They catch rattlcsnakes by
means OF a slip moose of cord, box them
up, and take them 10 Los Angeles, where
/ they sell them. The Chinese are tho
purchasers They use them as medicine
I and the snakes sell for from 80 cents to
/ 81 each. II is said that the Cinnamon
handle them learlessly and never get
/ bitten.
The sensation of the past week in San
! Francisco was the alleged discovery that
| two custom-house officers have been
CARRYING on an immense business in the
/ sale Of Chinese certificates. 1t 10 said
that II. 600 certificates have already been
| found to have been sold, and many more
will probably yet be discovered. Certlh-
/ Gates were not only sent to Hong Kong
/ for sale, but disposed of in large qUantl-
| ties here Another method was to bring
a crown of dummy" Cinnamon down
to the custom-housc, obtain their GER
/ tificates. and send the certificates to
/ China by an agent, Cinnamon not leay-
| inc San Francisco at all The restriction
act is really dead-letter in face Of these
| circumstances
The explorer Holuh, who, two years
ago, on his wedding day, started with
/ his bride for Central Africa, has re-
turned to Vienna. He said he wonld
have been killed a dozen times IN the
| lttle-known region north of the Fam
/ best if his wife bad not been with him.
/ The natives had never seen anybody be-
fore who wore skirts, nor anybody who
| had long hair, and they regarded Mrs
! Holub as q supernatural being, who had
! the white man under her special protec-
ton. One OF the tribes proclaimed her
as their queen, and begged hard that
she remain with them. The expedition
was very unfortunate, but Mrs. Holub
sustained all It's fatigues and dangers
with fortitude, and returned home IN
good health.
A New York firm have been author
lied 10y the Government OF New South
Wales. of which they are the agents. to
offer in behalf Of that Government re-
ward Of 2l2j. 600 for any method or pro-
cess Of exterminating the rabbits, which
have become pest throughout aus
tralia and New Zealand In the
year 1864 a few English rabbits were
introduced into New Zealand as family
pets and were finally placed in small
warren in the Botanical Garden at Dune-
din. In some unaccountlbla way these
rabbits have multiplied in numbers 70
such an extent as to become public nul-
sances. and have also increased in size,
and destroy not only the vegetables, but
even the grass to such an extent that the
sheep pasturage is seriously affected.
The great size Of the reward now offered
is proof Of the urgency OF the case, and
the fact that the Government of rs tins
reward is evidence of its confidence IN
American ingenuity and cleyerness.
Near Sing Sing, New York, about
three years ago tyo 40-pound humps OF
lead we're suspended by pianos-tring wires
in each Of two holes, 400 feet deep, and a
lot of engineers sighted across the lower
parts Of the wires IN each hole to get the
exact direction in which 10 bore tunnel
through the rock SO that the tunnels
should meet each other 5000 feet away.
The holes were 5000 feet apart, and
thew marked the ends of a section
of the new Croton aqueduct. Last
Saturday morning two drills work
ing toward each other met, end 10 end.
For several weeks the men knew that
they were getting near 10 each other.
The engineers figures had predicted II,
but the clear rapping Of the drills told
a palmer and palmer story every day,
and for several days the men have been
able to make their voices heard, although
there was fifteen or twenty feet of solid
rock between them. This rock WAS the last
barrier in Z, 000-fOOt section, and It was
blasted away piece by piece until this
marvellous triumph of engineering skill
was brought about. The drills were run
by compressed air at high pressure.
Count Joachim Pfell, the German
African explorer, gives the following
account Of mysterious creature seen on
the coast Of the Ulanga district: We
often saw an animal in the water which
we first believed to be a serpent. from its
movements and from the fact that only
now and then it appeared on the surface
for few seconds. Once, when we shot
at it, We were surprised to see 1t rise out
of the water and fly away. Atterward
we succeeded in obtaining one of the
curious creatures. Il was about the size
of large tame duck, with black plumage
and q metallic lustre. On its wings we un-
ticed few very light-yellow feathers
The neck was very long and thin, and
ended in long, pointed beak, at the
edge Of which were two rows OF sharp
teeth. At first sight no head was visible,
and the neck appeared to end only in
beak. The whole body of the bird is
under water while swimming, only the
long neck being seen. If it was fright
ened it disappeared altogether under the
water or flew rapidly away. Another
popularity wa noticed was that when the
bird Ind left the water it lay down on
bush with outstretched wings 10 get dry.
The flesh Of this creature has an unplea-